A rare piece of Led Zeppelin memorabilia is set to hit the auction block next month.
Featured in the Christie’s June 2-18 auction “The Open Book: Fine Travel, Americana, Literature and History in Print and Manuscript” is the original artwork from the cover of Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album.
Per Rolling Stone, the piece is expected to sell for between $20,000 to $30,000. The cover, based on the iconic Sam Shere photo of the Hindenburg crash, was created by George Hardie. At the time, Zeppelin paid Hardie £60 (about $74 USD) for the artwork.
Peter Klarnet, Christie’s senior specialist of Books and Manuscripts, told Rolling Stone, “In terms of rarity, this is a unique object — I don’t think you can get rarer than that… The historical significance of this album cover cannot be understated. It marked a major turning point in the history of pop music, heralded by the debut of Led Zeppelin. It was louder, bolder than what had come before and would come to define the shape of hard rock for generations. This simple rendering of the Hindenburg exploding over Lakehurst stands as a monument to that important historical moment. And the image has endured in a way that most other album covers have not — it very much has taken on a life of its own.”
